Flawed ACA physicians' lists are no surprise, Ohio congressman says

"Health care will be better and more affordable when Obamacare is gone,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said. | Contributed photo

It should surprise no one that the Ohio Department of Insurance's physician directories are so flawed, considering how flawed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is, a lawmaker from the state's 4th Congressional District said in a recent interview.

"It’s sadly no surprise that the doctors’ lists were flawed as well," Rep. James "Jim" Jordan (R-OH) said during a Patient Daily email interview. "Health care will be better and more affordable when Obamacare is gone.”

Gentieu found that about 80 percent of physicians in the Toledo area were not accepting new patients, despite the Ohio ACA physicians list saying otherwise. A spokesman for the Ohio Insurance Department was quoted in a New York Times article saying that correcting errors on the list is "consumer-driven," meaning wrong information isn't fixed until someone complains.

Gentieu has since posted the results of her experience on the website Ohio Citizen Rate Review. She also has urged Congress to eliminate provider networks, make prices transparent and break control that health insurance and pharmaceutical company lobbyists have over health care legislation.

It isn't clear if lawmakers in Washington will take those recommendations to heart or if things will get better, worse or remain the same under a new administration and a GOP-controlled Congress, with Donald Trump's inauguration planned for Jan. 20. Vice President-elect Mike Pence said last week that repealing and replacing the ACA will begin the first day Trump is in office.

Repealing the ACA will not be painless, according to a report issued Jan. 6 by the private health care foundation Common Fund. A Congressional repeal of certain key provisions of the ACA could cost up to 3 million people their jobs in health care and other related industries, according to the report.

"Recent analyses show canceling the ACA’s tax credits and Medicaid expansion would double the number of uninsured Americans," the report said. "As millions lose their insurance, hospitals and other providers would see their uncompensated medical care costs soar by $1.1 trillion from 2019 to 2028, and they would experience major revenue losses as well."

"From the beginning, everything we were told about Obamacare turned out to be false," Jordan said in his more recent email Patient Daily interview. "We were told if we liked our health care and our doctor we could keep them. We were told that premiums would go down. We were told that the Obamacare website would work and would be secure. We were told emergency room visits would decline as well."

Other promises were made as well, Jordan said. "But none of these things have happened," he said.